VARIETY... IS IT ALWAYS THE SPICE OF LIFE? - Part 3 Greg Diamond In parts 1 and 2, we stated how achieving variety by playing a larger music library is actually counterproductive to a desired ratings outcome since it dilutes a station’s familiarity and gives a listener too many reasons to go elsewhere. We have attempted to justify our assertion by explaining how auditorium tests have shown that any given format’s list of “great” songs is far shorter than many people realize, and then we applied mathematics to show that an audience is exposed to songs far less than one would expect.
Then how do we achieve more (variety), with less (familiarity)?
There are a number of proven techniques that can be applied to your music scheduling software to allow your records to achieve “perceived variety”… and we all know that perception is reality.
With currents, and possibly even certain recurrents (e.g. a small “Power” recurrent category), the goal is to actually eliminate the scheduler’s ability to plot these records as per a given set of user-defined rules. Instead, an orderly rotation will better allow you to play the songs in a manner less likely to create burn or fatigue. There are a few key steps that must be taken to achieve this and ByrnesMedia would be happy to offer consultation in this area.
With gold categories, the desire is to create good daypart “bounce” to ensure a song plays in enough different dayparts before returning again to its starting point. Also, splitting your gold categories into Primary and Secondary levels and scheduling them on a proportional basis can be very effective in keeping the biggest songs highlighted properly while still allowing a position for the occasional lower tester to add “spice” to the station. You may want to go even further and divide your categories for “rest and rotation” or “platooning.” This is the practice of moving the top records in and out of active rotation to keep them fresh without watering things down by playing a large number of less familiar selections. Again, ByrnesMedia consultants can show you how to set up your software to ensure your gold rotates in a manner capable of aiding in “perceived variety.”
While setting up your music scheduler is important, it is actually step 2 in the process and will be ineffective if step 1 – the songs themselves- isn’t looked after properly beforehand.
This brings us to the main reason databases become bloated. The “you play that song over and over” complaint is what causes PD’s and MD’s to mistake the need for more songs with the need for the right songs.
Are people actually hearing repetition of a good song, or are they hearing a bad record they dislike and it gives them a false perception about its rotation? Go back into your scheduler and check the history of such a song. It’s highly unlikely it is coming up every two hours as the angry caller just told you. When you confirm that, you’ll recognize it is likely a bad or unfamiliar song in your rotation causing the problem.
Choosing the right selections for your station is always a challenge and if you play a significant amount of new music, the challenge is even greater. There are ways to stack the deck in your favour and give yourself a better chance of ensuring the right songs get exposed. Most stations don’t have the budget for ongoing callout research (which is getting increasingly more difficult to do anyway), so for new music you need to follow charts and to a degree, your “gut.” ByrnesMedia can help you to more effectively use charts, thus reducing the need for risky subjectivity.
Choosing your recurrents is another important piece of the puzzle. In some ways it is even more critical and more subject to error than currents. Many of these songs will end up being “keepers” and have a level of familiarity approaching or equal to your gold. However, as they still rotate faster than gold, the need to ensure they are correct for your station is heightened. It’s with recurrents that many stations make mistakes.
Unless you have access to a web-based monitoring service like Mediabase, it is easy to lose track of what should and shouldn’t be a recurrent. Since they no longer appear on charts, you have to rely totally on “gut” and this is where the problem starts. People are hesitant about dropping a record after it has completed its “current lifespan.” This means over time the recurrent categories get bogged down with material that should no longer be played. It can be hard to accept, but it’s just as important to know which songs to throw away as it is which songs to add. If in doubt, don’t play the record… regardless of category or format.
ByrnesMedia compiles and delivers a “Safe List” to its clients at various times throughout the year. These are lists of songs with proven appeal in a given format. They are very effective tools, which allow Programmers to not only see which songs to include in recurrent, but also which ones should eventually make it into gold.
The Safe List also provides a way to ensure all your gold categories are kept up-to-date with the best material. While these categories certainly change much less than higher-rotating categories, they still need to be “freshened” on a regular basis.
One final reason databases may get larger is the “Jack/Bob/Joe” or “Adult Hits” phenomena.
These stations trumpet the fact they have a larger active library than other stations and there is, in fact, a very good reason why.
Music on an Adult Hits station consists in very large part of “oh-wow!” records that are in reality middle-of-the-pack (or lower) testing songs. The “oh-wow!” factor comes from little or no exposure to these songs by most radio stations for many years. This is a direct result of their lower test scores. When the songs get played, a common response is “gee, I haven’t heard that in a long time… oh wow!” That’s the upside. The downside is, since the appeal level is generally lower for these songs, it doesn’t take long for an “oh-wow!” record to become an “oh-not-again!” record. To combat this, “Jack/Bob/Joe” stations stretch their rotations to lower the exposure of their music across the board, thus keeping the “oh-wow!” factor longer. It is also why they constantly platoon records in and out of their active libraries.
This is a key factor in the success of the format to date. By taking an inherent weakness and turning it into an apparent strength through careful music maintenance and irreverent imaging (i.e. “Playing What We Want”), a “Jack/Bob/Joe” station does have the ability to garner success in the short term. However, it’s the long term where the strategy will face its biggest challenge. How long can the “oh-wow!” be sustained and in some instances how long can it be sustained without the use of announcers to build a stronger bond between station and listener. In a few instances, we have already seen erosion of the format.
Playing fewer records to raise the familiarity level of your station, and thus actually circumventing the variety issue is a proven method for success. It often takes a change in one’s mindset, which is never easy or comfortable. It also takes discipline and a need to repeatedly remind yourself of the difference between your ears and those of the listener. Yet, if you succeed in overcoming these short term troubles, you will have placed your station on a path towards greater appeal and subsequently higher ratings.
ByrnesMedia is ready to assist you with these changes. Just pick up the phone and give us a call. |